Avalanche outshot 60- 27 but still win
Carolina unleashed a flurry of shots from every direction and angle imaginable. That’s all right, Semyon Varlamov was back on his game.
Varlamov stopped a careerhigh 57 shots, Blake Comeau scored the first of Colorado’s three second- period goals over a 3: 33 span and the host Avalanche beat the Hurricanes 5- 3 on Thursday night.
Varlamov wasn’t even all that worn out as he set an Avalanche record for most saves in a regular- season game. The franchise record — including the Quebec Nordiques — is 70 by Ron Tugnutt on March 21, 1991, at Boston.
“I feel not bad, actually,” Varlamov said. “Sometimes you face 30 shots and you’re exhausted after the game.”
He had added motivation: rebounding from a forgettable game in which he allowed seven goals at Vegas last week.
“If you have a bad game, the next night you have to bounce back, so I had to forget about it and then just keep going,” Varlamov said. “We knew that Carolina was shooting from everywhere. That was the key today, to see most of the shots.”
Colorado now embarks on a four- game, 10- day road trip that includes two games in Stockholm.
Victor Rask scored 55 seconds into the game for Carolina, which outshot the Avalanche 60- 27. Elias Lindholm and Derek Ryan also had goals.
Flames 2, Penguins 1: Mark Giordano scored 2: 19 into overtime, Mike Smith made 43 saves and host Calgary beat Pittsburgh. Giordano fired a shot over Tristan Jarry’s glove off a pass by Matthew Tkachuk.
Jets 5, Stars 2: Mark Scheifele had a hat trick, Patrik Laine scored his first goal in five games and host Winnipeg beat Dallas to extend its points streak to six games.
Sabres had two 5, goals Coyotes and an 4: assist, Benoit and Pouliot visiting Buffalo held off Arizona’s furious late charge. Kyle Okposo had a goal and an assist to help the Sabres build a 5- 1 lead in the third period. Arizona scored three goals in the final eight minutes, cutting its deficit to one on Christian Dvorak’s goal with an extra attacker and 52 seconds left.
Capitals 4, Islanders 3: Lars Eller scored two goals, including the winner, and had an assist as host Washington beat New York despite being outshot 16- 2 in the third period.
Kings 5, Maple Leafs 3: Tyler Toffoli scored two goals, Michael Amadio got his first NHL goal, and host Los Angeles got its eighth victory in 10 games.
Blue Jackets 7, Panthers 3: Oliver Bjorkstrand and Josh Anderson each scored twice as visiting Columbus notched a season high in goals to defeat Florida. Boone Jenner, Tyler Motte and Markus Hannikainen also had goals for the Blue Jackets, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves.
Senators 3, Red Wings 1: Mark Stone had a goal and an assist and Craig Anderson made 24 saves for host Ottawa. Alex Burrows and Nate Thompson also scored for the Senators.
Flyers 2, Blues 0: Michal Neuvirth made 33 saves and Brandon Manning broke a scoreless tie with a secondperiod goal to lead visiting Philadelphia over St. Louis. Claude Giroux added an empty- net goal.
Bruins 2, Golden Knights 1: Sean Kuraly scored his first career goal to snap a tie midway through the third period for host Boston, which was coming off consecutive losses in overtime and a shootout.
Wild 6, Canadiens 3: Matt Cullen scored his first goal of the season on his 41st birthday and added an assist in host Minnesota’s three- goal first period. Nino Neiderreiter and Tyler Ennis also scored in the period. Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund each had two assists and Marcus Foligno added an empty- net goal for the Wild.
Rangers 2, Lightning 1: J. T. Miller scored 1: 19 into overtime for visiting New York, skating around defenseman Anton Stralman to beat goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Surgery for Backes: The Boston Bruins placed forward David Backes on injured reserve and expect him to miss up to eight weeks as he recovers from surgery to remove part of his colon. Backes, bothered by diverticulitis, has played in only five games this season.